(CNN) -- Raids at an Oakland, California, bakery and three homes produced evidence that links the business to the killings of a prominent African-American journalist and two other people, police said.

Chauncey Bailey -- editor of the Oakland Post, an African-American newspaper -- was gunned down Thursday morning on an Oakland street. He had written about Your Black Muslim Bakery and was reportedly looking into a bankruptcy filing by the business.

Police searched the four locations early Friday, authorities said, adding that the search warrants were ready to go and planned for execution before Bailey's death.

Yusuf Bey IV, who controls the chain of bakeries founded by his father, Yusuf Bey, was among those detained, and was being interviewed, said Lt. Ersie Joyner, head of the Oakland police homicide unit.

"We believe that he's involved to a certain degree in these homicides," he said, but Bey had not been booked as of Friday afternoon.

Don't Miss

Alameda County health officials closed the bakery after an inspection for unsanitary living and eating conditions, said Howard Jordan, assistant police chief.

The warrants stemmed from an investigation that began in May after a case involving kidnapping, robbery and torture in East Oakland, Joyner said.

"It became apparent Your Black Muslim Bakery had some involvement in the case," he said. In addition, police were able to connect two slayings in July -- both men shot and killed near the bakery -- using gun evidence.

Police would not reveal the suspected motive in Bailey's death or in the other killings.

The investigation does not involve the Nation of Islam, another African-American Muslim group, police said, and "should not be seen as an investigation of any faith tradition."

Your Black Muslim Bakery has a history of legal troubles, according to CNN affiliate KTVU. When Yusuf Bey died in 2003, he was awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl who worked at the bakery.

In the wake of Bey's death, his son and designated heir, Antar Bey, was shot to death as he talked on his cell phone at an Oakland gas station in October 2005. That slaying remains under investigation, KTVU said.

In November 2005, several group members, including Yusuf Bey IV, were accused of vandalism and other charges in connection with the trashing of liquor cases at convenience stores. Police said at the time that the group's religious opposition to alcohol fueled the incidents, according to media reports.E-mail to a friend